Updated on
Summary Hurricane Sandys approach has clouded the US presidential race.
The approach of what could be the most devastating storm in decades threw a surprise into the US presidential contest Saturday as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney hunted for votes -- and took swipes at each other -- amid fears of chaos ahead of the November 6 election.The incumbent and his Republican rival campaigned at opposite ends of the eastern seaboard Saturday -- Obama in New Hampshire and his rival in Florida -- while their campaigns kept an eagle eye on Hurricane Sandy.With the storm -- dubbed Frankenstorm -- now stalking the US East Coast, Romney canceled all his scheduled rallies in battleground Virginia Sunday to get out of the way of frantic preparations for the fierce weather system, instead returning to Ohio, another make or break swing state.Vice President Joe Biden did the same on Saturday.Obama, who made no changes in his campaign schedule, reviewed emergency preparations in a conference call with top domestic security and emergency assistance officials Saturday as he flew to New Hampshire, the White House said.This an example yet again of the president having to put his responsibilities as commander-in-chief and leader of the country first while at the same time he pursues his responsibilities as a candidate for re-election, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on the flight.Currently a category one hurricane, Sandy was forecast to ride slowly up the Atlantic coastline, bringing heavy rains and gusting winds to the Carolinas, before making landfall early this week somewhere between Virginia and New Jersey.Forecasters predict the storm will collide with a seasonal noreaster, creating a supercharged cold weather system that could burst through the Mid-Atlantic states as far inland as Ohio.Huge tidal surges, power outages, inland flooding and even heavy snowfall could then be in store for the final, frantic week of the US election campaign, adding a nasty twist to what already is a neck and neck race.Governors, anticipating the worst, declared states of emergency in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the US capital Washington and a coastal county in North Carolina.Aside from the threat to tens of millions of residents, the storm could up-end election-related preparations across several states, interfere with early voting and cause problems at polling stations.Both Obama and Romney were pushing supporters to vote early. So far, 10.5 million people have already cast their ballots, according to a count by experts at George Mason University near Washington.That is equivalent to about eight percent of all votes cast in 2008, and analysts said the early voting was on track to beat the record set in the last presidential elections, when more than 30 percent of ballots were cast before election day.
